Holidaymakers were stunned when a huge section of cliff came crashing down into the sea at a Devon resort.
The massive landslide at the notoriously unstable Pennington Point in Sidmouth could be heard up to half a mile away and covered homes and gardens in a film of red dust.
The slip will raise the fears of a dozen homeowners whose properties edge closer to oblivion with each collapse.
Richard Thurlow, a local resident who chairs the campaign group Save Our Sidmouth, said the rumble was clearly audible from Sidmouth golf course.
"It was a fairly major one, quite immense," he said.
"Outside my home, which is half a mile away, a fine red dust was deposited on all the flat surfaces.
"The people who are seeing their gardens eroded are very worried."
The fall occurred around 3pm on Wednesday as the nearby town beach was packed with holiday crowds.
The section of beach affected is not closed but signs warn of the danger.
Rockfalls along the Devon and Dorset Jurassic Coast are quite common, attracting an army of fossil hunters, who flock to the scene often before the dust has even settled.
But for those caught up in such spectacular demonstrations of natural power it can be costly and even tragic.
Last summer, further along the coast at Burton Bradstock, in Dorset, a 22-year-old woman on holiday with her family was found dead under hundreds of tonnes of rubble .
At Pennington Point, 12 properties are at risk of falling over an eroding cliff edge, which is said to be losing land at up to 4m (13ft) a year.
The ongoing problem is said to be caused by a combination of rainfall and wave action.
